Business People

July 09, 2006

MISHAWAKA -- Joel Laidig, Mishawaka investment representative for the financial services firm Edward Jones, was recently recognized at a business management forum in St. Louis for the excellent business management skills he has demonstrated. Laidig met with other Edward Jones representatives to share ideas for increasing office efficiency, improve customer service, increase investment knowledge, and expand knowledge in the area of estate planning. The firm's 9,000-plus investment representatives work directly with more than 6 million clients to understand their personal goals -- from college savings to retirement -- and to create long-term strategies for their investments that emphasize portfolio diversification and a buy-and-hold strategy. SOUTH BEND -- STS Consultants Ltd. has announced that Don MacDonell, CHMM, has joined the company as an associate scientist in the environmental services practice area. He will work out of STS' Chicago Loop office and the company's new South Bend office. MacDonell comes to STS from a leading environmental engineering firm in northern Indiana where he served as managing principal. MacDonell has more than 20 years of experience serving private sector and municipal clients on a wide variety of environmental engineering projects including brownfields redevelopment, environmental site assessments and underground storage tank management. He has managed assessments for former industrial sites, municipal wellhead protection programs, wetland permitting/mitigation and real estate transaction due diligence projects. MacDonell has a bachelor's degree in biology from Marquette University and a master's degree from Indiana University. He is a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager, an accredited asbestos/lead inspector in Indiana and Michigan, and a certified Underground Storage Tank closure consultant with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. STS opened a South Bend office in June to expand the company's growing site development services practice in the northern Indiana market. It is a professional services firm specializing in site planning, design, and construction engineering. GRANGER -- Big C Lumber recently announced the appointment of Andy Tolch as a general manager of the LaPorte location. Tolch started his career with Big C Lumber in 2002 as an inside sales representative at the Roseland branch. In August 2003, he was promoted to operations manager of the Granger location, which serves as both Big C's main distribution facility for the other 14 locations, as well as the local contractor supply yard. Tolch will be responsible for overseeing the operations of both the lumberyard and retail store in LaPorte. SOUTH BEND -- Villing & Co. has announced the addition of Lesley Blackburn as assistant account executive. As part of the account services team, Blackburn will be responsible for day-to-day client relations and assistance with client campaigns and projects, including Illiana Credit Union and Dynamax. She will also be involved with new business development activities. Blackburn is a graduate of Ball State University with a bachelor of science degree in advertising. SOUTH BEND -- Eric Sharon has joined Barnes & Thornburg LLP's South Bend office as a member of the firm's litigation department. He practices primarily in the areas of civil litigation and product liability defense. Sharon has represented corporate entities in product-related litigation, wrongful death, and commercial litigation at the trial and appellate levels. He has also represented individuals and businesses in insurance and bad-faith litigation in state and federal courts. Sharon received his bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and his law degree from Case Western Reserve University. He received the A.E. Bersteen and Dean Dunmore Distinguished Advocate Awards given to the law school's top Moot Court competitor. During law school, he clerked for Chief Judge Paul R. Matia of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio; Judge Dorothy Toth Beasley of the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the Federal Trade Commission. Sharon is admitted to practice in Indiana and Georgia. Business Briefs are for executive-level appointments and significant announcements. We do not use in-house awards. We can use color or black and white photographs of good quality. Because of the volume of material we receive, we cannot return photos. All photos, whether used or not, are kept in The Tribune's library for possible future use. Send Business Briefs to the Business News Editor, South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626; FAX: 236-1765. Please include the name and telephone number of a contact person.